Method and apparatus for identifying neighboring device

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for identifying a neighboring device are provided. The method of identifying a neighboring device, which is performed in a user terminal, includes: obtaining identification information and location information of a plurality of neighboring devices that can wirelessly communicate with the user terminal; extracting the identification information of one of the neighboring devices, the neighboring device being in the actual location range within the field of vision of the user terminal; and using the extracted identification information to request that the neighboring device perform wireless communication with the user terminal. According to the method and apparatus, identification information of a neighboring device with which a user terminal desires to perform wireless communication can be obtained using a viewfinder or liquid crystal display of the user terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. application Ser.No. 12/020,751 filed Jan. 28, 2008, which claims priority from KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2007-0067144, filed on Jul. 4, 2007 in theKorean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate toidentification of a neighboring device, and more particularly, toidentifying a neighboring device of a user terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless communication technologies allow network access withoutrestriction of wired connections, and can be classified into infraredray communication methods based on the Infrared Data Association (IrDA)and radio frequency (RF) (high frequency) communication methods.Infrared ray communication methods have a simple structure and requirelow power consumption, but can operate only at short range with userterminals having a direct line of sight between each other, therebymaking it is difficult to perform communication when an obstacle exists.RF-type short-distance wireless communication technologies operateomnidirectionally and are not affected by obstacles. The RF-typeshort-distance wireless communication technologies include wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, ZigBee, and WiBro technologies.With the development of wireless communication technologies, the varietyof digital devices capable of performing wireless communication hasincreased. With the widespread use of small and light mobile devicessuch as personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable media players(PMPs), mobile phones, and navigation systems, users can now use suchdigital devices at any time or location.

In order for a user having a user terminal, such as a mobile device towirelessly communicate with another device, the user should select apredetermined device from neighboring devices capable of wirelesslycommunicating with the user terminal. However, when there are manysimilar neighboring devices capable of wireless communication, it isdifficult to identify a particular device from among the manyneighboring devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for identifying aneighboring device of a user terminal by using a viewfinder or liquidcrystal display (LCD) of the user terminal.

The present invention also provides a method and apparatus for easilyand simply identifying a neighboring device of a user terminal by whicha device with which the user desires to communicate can be selectedwhile watching neighboring devices through a screen of a user terminal.

The present invention also provides a method and apparatus foridentifying a neighboring device of a user terminal by whichidentification information of a desired neighboring device can beobtained by using location information of the user terminal andneighboring devices.

The present invention also provides a method and apparatus foridentifying a neighboring device of a user terminal by which the userterminal can photograph a neighboring device displayed on a viewfinderor an LCD of the user terminal and generate a media signal and at thesame time the user terminal can transmit the generated media signal tothe neighboring device positioned on a screen of the user terminal.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod of identifying a neighboring device, which is performed in a userterminal and includes: obtaining an actual location range within a fieldof vision of the user terminal; receiving identification information andlocation information of a plurality of neighboring devices that canwirelessly communicate with the user terminal, from the neighboringdevices; using the actual location range within the field of vision ofthe user terminal and the location information and identificationinformation of the neighboring devices to extract the identificationinformation of one of the neighboring devices, the selected neighboringdevice being in the actual location range within the field of vision ofthe user terminal; and using the extracted identification information torequest the neighboring device located within the field of vision of theuser terminal to perform wireless communication with the user terminal.

The obtaining the actual location range within the field of vision ofthe user terminal may include: obtaining the location information of theuser terminal; obtaining the field of vision of the user terminal; andobtaining the actual location range within the field of vision of theuser terminal based on the location information and the field of visionof the user terminal.

The extracting the identification information of the neighboring devicewithin the field of vision of the user terminal may include: selecting aneighboring device which is located in the actual location range withinthe field of vision of the user terminal, among the neighboring devicesthat can perform wireless communication with the user terminal; andextracting the identification information of the selected neighboringdevice.

The requesting the neighboring device located within the field of visionof the user terminal to perform wireless communication with the userterminal may include: displaying the neighboring devices located withinthe field of vision of the user terminal on a viewfinder of the userterminal; receiving a selection of a neighboring device which is to berequested to perform wireless communication with the user terminal,among the displayed neighboring devices; and requesting the selectedneighboring device to perform wireless communication with the userterminal.

The displaying the neighboring devices may include: converting thelocations of the neighboring devices to locations on the viewfinder,based on the location information of the neighboring devices within thefield of vision, the location information of the user terminal, theviewing angle of the user terminal, and a size of the viewfinder of theuser terminal; and displaying the neighboring devices on the convertedlocations on the viewfinder.

The receiving of the selection of the neighboring device may beperformed using one of a keyboard, a touchpad, a touch screen, ajoystick, a mouse, and a remote controller.

The method may further include: photographing neighboring devices withinthe field of vision of the user terminal and generating a media signal;and requesting the neighboring devices within the field of vision of theuser terminal to perform wireless communication with the user terminaland transmitting the media signal to the neighboring devices.

The obtaining the location information of the user terminal may include:receiving a wireless signal from a base station; and obtaining thelocation information of the user terminal based on the received wirelesssignal.

The location information of the user terminal may include at least oneof latitude, longitude, direction of the field of vision, and altitude.

The wireless communication may include short-distance wirelesscommunication using at least one of wireless local area network (WLAN),Bluetooth, ZigBee, and WiBro technologies.

The method may further include: obtaining from the neighboring deviceidentification information of other devices belonging to the user of theneighboring device which is requested to perform wireless communicationwith the user terminal; and requesting, based on the obtainedidentification information of the other devices, the other devices toperform wireless communication with the user terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of identifying a neighboring device, which is performed in auser terminal and includes: focusing on a neighboring device which is tobe requested to perform communication with the user terminal among aplurality of neighboring devices that can perform wireless communicationwith the user terminal; obtaining location information of theneighboring device, obtaining identification information of theneighboring device based on the location information of the neighboringdevice; and requesting the neighboring device to perform wirelesscommunication with the user terminal, based on the identificationinformation.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of transmitting identification information performed by a userterminal, the method including: obtaining location information of theuser terminal; receiving a request to transmit identificationinformation of the user terminal from the neighboring device that canperform wireless communication with the user terminal if a differencebetween the location information of the user terminal and the locationinformation transmitted from the neighboring device is within apredetermined range; and if the difference is within the predeterminedrange, transmitting the identification information of the user terminalto the neighboring device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda user terminal for identifying a neighboring device, the apparatusincluding: a location information processing unit which obtains anactual location range within a field of vision of the user terminal, andextracts, based on identification information and location informationof a neighboring device received from the neighboring device, theidentification information of the neighboring device in the actuallocation range within the field of vision of the user terminal; awireless communication unit which receives the identificationinformation and location information of the neighboring device from theneighboring device, and requests, based on the identificationinformation of the neighboring device within the field of vision of theuser terminal, the neighboring device located within the field of visionto perform wireless communication with the user terminal; and a mediasignal processing unit which photographs a view within a field of visionof the user terminal and generates a media signal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda user terminal for identifying a neighboring device, the user terminalincluding: a location information processing unit which obtains locationinformation of a user terminal, and obtains, based on the locationinformation of the user terminal, location information of a neighboringdevice on which the user terminal is focused; a wireless communicationunit which transmits the location information of the neighboring deviceon which the user terminal is focused to a plurality of neighboringdevices that can perform wireless communication with the user terminal,requests the neighboring device at the location indicated by thelocation information to transmit identification information, receivesthe identification information of the neighboring device from theneighboring device at the location indicated by the location informationand requests, based on the identification information, the neighboringdevice on which the user terminal is focused to perform wirelesscommunication with the user terminal; and a media signal processing unitwhich photographs a view within a field of vision of the user terminaland generates a media signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects of the present invention will become moreapparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof withreference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a neighboring device identificationsystem according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal structure of a userterminal of the neighboring device identification system illustrated inFIG. 1, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an internal structure of a userterminal for performing a method of identifying a neighboring device,according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying a neighboringdevice, the method performed in a user terminal, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying a neighboringdevice, the method performed in a user terminal, according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying a neighboringdevice, the method performed in a user terminal, according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of theinvention are shown.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a neighboring device identificationsystem according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 1, the neighboring device identification systemaccording to the current embodiment of the present invention includes auser terminal 100, a global positioning system (GPS) satellite 110, andneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150. In the exemplaryembodiment, the user terminal 100 and the neighboring devices 130, 131,132, 133, 140, and 150 may be PDAs, PMPs, mobile phones, navigationsystems, notebooks, and/or any other similar portable devices that arecapable of wireless communication with other devices. The user terminal100 can perform short-distance wireless communication with neighboringdevices located within a predetermined range 120 (in this case, theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150). Theshort-distance wireless communication can be performed using at leastone of wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth, ZigBee, and WiBrotechnologies.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the user terminal100 and the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150identify their respective locations. Methods of identifying location byusing wireless communication include a method of identifying thelocation based on a base station, a method of identifying the locationby using a GPS satellite, and a method of combining the locationidentifying technology based on a base station and the locationidentifying technology using the GPS satellite. In FIG. 1, the userterminal 100 and the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and150 receive GPS signals from the GPS satellite 110, thereby obtainingtheir location information. However, the present invention is notlimited to such a method, and the user terminal 100 and the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 may identify their locationsbased on a base station. Each of the user terminal 100 and theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 may receive a GPSsignal at each of a plurality of predetermined time intervals, or mayreceive a new GPS signal whenever the locations change due to movementand update the location information according to the new GPS signal. Thelocation information may include latitude, longitude, altitude, anddirection information.

Also, in the exemplary embodiment the user terminal 100 can performcamera functions, including photographing an object, generating a mediasignal, and editing the media signal. A user can photograph an imageseen through a viewfinder or an LCD by using the viewfinder or the LCDincluded in the user terminal 100. By using its location information,the user terminal 100 may obtain the range of an image seen through theviewfinder or LCD, or may obtain the location information of an objecton which the user terminal 100 is focused.

If a user wants to perform wireless communication between multipleneighboring devices, such as the neighboring devices 140 and 150, theuser can adjust the location or direction of the user terminal 100 sothat the neighboring devices 140 and 150 are positioned within the fieldof vision of the viewfinder or LCD included in the user terminal 100.The user terminal 100 can obtain the actual location range within thefield of vision of the user terminal 100 by using its locationinformation. The neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150obtain their location information, and transmit their locationinformation and identification information to devices that can performwireless communication with them. The user terminal 100 can selectneighboring devices positioned within the field of vision of the userterminal 100, that is, the neighboring devices 140 and 150, by using thetransmitted location information of the neighboring devices 130, 131,132, 133, 140, and 150.

By using the identification information of the selected neighboringdevices 140 and 150, the user terminal 100 can request the neighboringdevices 140 and 150 within the field of vision of the user terminal 100to perform short-distance wireless communication.

The user terminal 100 may be focused on a neighboring device that theuser desires to communicate with, and may obtain identificationinformation of the neighboring device. When the neighboring devices 130,131, 133, 133, 140, and 150 do not transmit their location informationand identification information to the user terminal 100, the userterminal 100 may be focused on a neighboring device that the userdesires to communicate with, such as neighboring device 150, by using aviewfinder or LCD of the user terminal 100, and by using the locationinformation obtained from said viewfinder or LCD, the user terminal 100can obtain the location information of the neighboring device 150. Theuser terminal 100 transmits the obtained location information of theneighboring device 150 to all the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132,133, 140, and 150 that can perform wireless communication with the userterminal 100, and requests a neighboring device having the transmittedlocation information to transmit the identification information of theneighboring device. If the location information received from the userterminal 100 corresponds to its location or indicates a location withina predetermined range from its location, the neighboring device, in thiscase, the neighboring device 150, transmits its identificationinformation to the user terminal 100. By using the receivedidentification information, the user terminal 100 can request theneighboring device 150 on which the user terminal 100 is focused toperform short-distance wireless communication.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal structure of the userterminal 100, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 2, the user terminal 100 according to thecurrent embodiment of the present invention includes a media signalprocessing unit 200, a location information processing unit 300, and ashort-distance wireless communication unit 400. The media signalprocessing unit 200 can photograph an object seen through a viewfinderor LCD of the user terminal 100 by using a camera lens, film or acharged-coupled device (CCD), thereby generating a media signal. Also,the media signal processing unit 200 can perform a variety of functionsaccording to the type of the user terminal 100. For example, if the userterminal 100 is a mobile phone, the media signal processing unit 200 canperform a wireless call function, and if the user terminal 100 is an MP3player, the media signal processing unit 200 can reproduce an audiosignal. The user terminal 100 can identify its current location by usingthe location information processing unit 300. As described above, thelocation information processing unit 300 can obtain the location of theuser terminal 100 based on a GPS signal received from a GPS satellite orbased on a base station. By using its location information, the userterminal 100 can identify a neighboring device with which the userterminal 100 wants to perform short-distance wireless communication. Theshort-distance wireless communication unit 400 performs wirelesscommunication with the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, and 140that are located within a predetermined range 120 from the user terminal100. The wireless communication may be performed by using at least oneof WLAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and WiBro technologies.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram illustrating an internal structure ofthe user terminal 100 according to another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the user terminal 100 includesthe media signal processing unit 200, the location informationprocessing unit 300, and the short-distance wireless communication unit400. The media signal processing unit 200 includes a control unit 210, amemory unit 220, an input unit 230, and an output unit 240. The controlunit 210 controls overall operations of the user terminal 100, therebyallowing the user terminal 100 to perform the method of identifyingneighboring devices according to the present invention. The control unit210 includes an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) for calculation, andregisters for temporarily storing data and instructions. The memory unit220 stores programs required for generating media signals and performingthe method of identifying neighboring devices. The memory unit 220includes a high-speed main memory formed with storage media such as arandom access memory (RAM), and a read-only memory (ROM), an auxiliarymemory formed with long-term storage media such as a floppy disk, a harddisk, a tape, a CD-ROM, and flash memory, and an apparatus for storingdata by using electric, magnetic, optical and other storage media. Theinput unit 230 receives inputs of commands, letters, numbers, or voiceinformation from a user by using a physical transducer such as akeyboard, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen or a microphone, andinforms the control unit 210 of the information. Also, the input unit230 receives selection by the user of a neighboring device with whichthe user wants to perform short-distance wireless communication.

The output unit 240 outputs the overall state of the user terminal 100or information input by the user through the input unit 230 through ascreen or a speaker. The output unit 240 can include a display unit (notshown) for outputting a video signal in a media signal, a speaker (notshown) for outputting an audio signal, and an on-screen display (OSD)(not shown) processing unit for generating and outputting a userterminal control list. The display unit can include a viewfinder or LCDthrough which the user can watch an object, and focus on a desiredobject.

The location information processing unit 300 obtains the location of aneighboring device desired to communicate with, and includes a GPSsignal reception unit 310, a location calculation unit 320, and aneighboring device location processing unit 330. The GPS signalreception unit 310 receives GPS signals from a plurality of GPSsatellites. The location calculation unit 320 obtains the locationinformation of the user terminal 100, by using the GPS signals receivedby the GPS signal reception unit 310. Also, by using the locationinformation of the user terminal 100, the location calculation unit 320may obtain an actual location range within the field of vision of theuser terminal 100 which is seen through the viewfinder or LCD of theuser terminal 100, or the actual location of a neighboring device 150 onwhich the user terminal 100 is focused. The neighboring device locationprocessing unit 330 identifies a neighboring device with which the userterminal 100 wants to communicate, by using the location information ofthe user terminal 100 and the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133,140, and 150. If the user terminal 100 receives identificationinformation and location information of the neighboring devices 130,131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 that can perform short-distance wirelesscommunication from the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and150, the neighboring device location processing unit 330 stores thelocation information and identification information of the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150. The neighboring devicelocation processing unit 330 identifies the neighboring devices 140 and150 that are in the location range within the field of vision of theuser terminal 100 using the stored location information of theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 and extracts theidentification information of the neighboring devices 140 and 150. Ifthe user focuses the user terminal 100 on the neighboring device 150with which the user wants to communicate, and wants to obtain theidentification information of the neighboring device 150, theneighboring device location processing unit 330 can generate a messagerequesting the neighboring device 150 corresponding to the locationinformation or neighboring devices located in a predetermined distancefrom the location indicated by the location information, to transmitidentification information, by using the location information of theneighboring device 150 on which the user terminal 100 is focused.

The short-distance wireless communication unit 400 performs wirelesscommunication with the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and150 located in a predetermined range 120, and includes an RFtransmission unit 410, an RF reception unit 420, a baseband processingunit 430, and a link control unit 440. The baseband processing unit 430and the link control unit 440 are connected to the control unit 210through a host control interface (HCI), and transmit and receive HCIpackets, thereby communicating control commands and transmission andreception data with the control unit 210. The baseband processing unit430 adds an access code and header to each of a variety of HCI datapackets approved by the control unit 210, thereby changing the packetformats, and then, changes the formats again into a predetermined datapacket for wireless communication, and transfers the data packets to theRF transmission unit 410. The RF transmission unit 410 modulates andamplifies the data packets for wireless communication generated in thebaseband processing unit 430, to a predetermined frequency band, andthen transmits the data packets. The user terminal 100 can transmit thelocation information and identification information of the user terminal100 to the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 inreal-time, by using the RF transmission unit 410.

The RF reception unit 420 receives a signal, suppresses amplification ofnoise of the frequency signal, amplifies a signal in the set frequencyband, then, reduces the signal to a lower frequency band, and providesthe signal to the baseband processing unit 430. The RF reception unit420 can receive the location information and identification informationof the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 from theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 in real-time. Thebaseband processing unit 430 changes the data packets received throughthe RF reception unit 420, to HCI packets, and provides the HCI packetsto the control unit 210. If the RF reception unit 420 receives thelocation information and identification information of the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 from the neighboring devices130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150, the baseband processing unit 430informs the control unit 210 of the reception. The control unit 210controls the received location information and identificationinformation of the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150to be stored in the neighboring device location processing unit 300. Byusing the location information and identification information of theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150, the neighboringdevice location processing unit 300 can identify the neighboring devices140 and 150 located within the field of vision of the user terminal 100,and by using the RF transmission unit 410, the neighboring devicelocation processing unit 300 can request the neighboring devices 140 and150 located within the field of vision of the user terminal 100 toperform wireless communication.

If the user terminal 100 is focused on a neighboring device, such as theneighboring device 150, with which the user wants to communicate andwants to know the identification information of the neighboring device,the neighboring device location processing unit 330 obtains locationinformation of the neighboring device 150 on which the user terminal 100is focused. The user terminal 100 generates a message requesting theneighboring device 150 whose location information is the same as theobtained location information, to transmit identification information.The user terminal 100 can transmit the obtained location information anda message requesting transmission of the identification information tothe neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 through the RFtransmission unit 410. The neighboring device 150 corresponding to thelocation information transmitted from the user terminal 100, or whoselocation is within a predetermined range from the location indicated bythe location information transmitted from the user terminal 100 canwirelessly transmit its identification information to the user terminal100. The user terminal 100 obtains the identification information fromthe neighboring device 150 through the RF reception unit 420, and byusing the obtained identification information, the user terminal 100 canrequest the neighboring device 150 to perform wireless communication,through the RF transmission unit 410.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying a neighboringdevice, the method performed in the user terminal 100, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, theuser terminal 100 obtains its location information based on GPS signalsor a base station in operation 410. By using its location informationand angle of view, the user terminal 100 obtains the actual locationrange within the field of vision of a viewfinder or LCD of the userterminal 100 in operation 420. The user terminal 100 receivesidentification information and location information of the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150, from the neighboring devices130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 that can perform short-distancewireless communication with the user terminal 100 in operation 430. Byusing the received location information of the neighboring devices 130,131, 132, 133, 140, and 150, the user terminal 100 selects neighboringdevices located within the actual location range within the field ofvision of the user terminal 100, that is, the neighboring devices 140and 150, in operation 440.

The user terminal 100 displays the neighboring devices 140 and 150located within the field of vision of the user terminal 100, on theviewfinder or LCD in operation 450. The user terminal 100 can convertthe actual locations of the neighboring devices 140 and 150 into thelocations on the viewfinder or LCD, by using the location information ofthe neighboring devices 140 and 150 located within the field of visionof the user terminal 100, the location information of the user terminal100, the viewing angle of the user terminal 100, and the size of theviewfinder or LCD. The user terminal 100 can generate identifiersexpressing the neighboring devices 140 and 150 located within the fieldof vision of the user terminal 100, and display the identifiers at theconverted locations on the viewfinder or LCD. The identifiers may beproduct model numbers of the neighboring devices 140 and 150, blinkingpoints or emoticons. The user terminal 100 receives an input from theuser of a predetermined device desired to wirelessly communicate withfrom among the displayed neighboring devices 140 and 150 in operation460. The user can select a desired neighboring device by using one of akeyboard, a touchpad, a touch screen, a joystick, a mouse, and a remotecontroller. The user terminal 100 extracts identification information ofthe selected neighboring device in operation 470. By using the extractedidentification information, the user terminal 100 requests theneighboring device selected by the user to perform short-distancewireless communication in operation 480.

After the user terminal 100 selects the neighboring devices located inthe actual location range within the field of vision of the userterminal 100 in operation 440, the user terminal 100 may also requestall the selected neighboring devices 140 and 150 to performshort-distance wireless communication.

The user can photograph the view seen through the viewfinder or LCD byusing the user terminal 100, thereby generating a media signal. If theneighboring devices 140 and 150 that can perform wireless communicationwith the user terminal 100 are within the field of vision of the userterminal 100, the user terminal 100 can extract the identificationinformation of the neighboring devices 140 and 150 within the field ofvision of the user terminal 100 by using the methods described above,and by using the extracted identification information, the user terminal100 can request the neighboring devices 140 and 150 within the field ofvision to perform wireless communication, thereby transmitting theobtained media signal.

The user terminal 100 can also obtain identification information ofother devices belonging to the user of a neighboring device, throughwireless communication with the neighboring device. In this case, theuser terminal 100 can request the other devices to performshort-distance wireless communication by using the identificationinformation of the other devices of the user of the neighboring device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying a neighboringdevice, the method performed in the user terminal 100, according toanother exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.5, the user terminal 100 obtains the current location information of theuser terminal 100 based on GPS signals or base stations in operation510. The user terminal 100 is focused on a neighboring device 150, whichis to be requested to perform communication among the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150, in operation 520. By using itslocation information, the user terminal 100 obtains the locationinformation of the neighboring device 150 in operation 530. The userterminal 100 transmits the location information of the neighboringdevice 150 to the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150that can perform short-distance wireless communication in operation 540.The user terminal 100 can generate a message requesting the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 to transmit identificationinformation if any of them are at the location indicated by thetransmitted location information. The user terminal 100 transmits thegenerated message together with the location information to theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150. Each of theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 receives thelocation information and the identification information transmissionrequest message, and determines whether or not they are at the locationindicated by the received location information or within a predeterminedrange from the indicated location. If the neighboring device is at thelocation indicated by the received location information or within apredetermined range from the indicted location, the neighboring devicetransmits its identification information to the user terminal 100. Theuser terminal 100 receives the identification information of theneighboring device from the neighboring device in operation 550. Byusing the received identification information, the user terminal 100requests the neighboring device, which has transmitted theidentification information, to perform wireless communication inoperation 560. The user terminal 100 can also obtain identificationinformation of other devices belonging to the user of the neighboringdevice which the user terminal 100 request to perform short-distancewireless communication. In this case, the user terminal 100 can requestthe other devices to perform short-distance wireless communication byusing the identification information of the other devices of the user ofthe neighboring device, and can also transmit a media signal to theother devices.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of identifying a neighboringdevice, the method performed in the user terminal 100, according toanother exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.6, the user terminal 100 obtains its location by using GPS satellites orbase stations in operation 610. For users of the neighboring devices130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 to perform short-distance wirelesscommunication with the user terminal 100 located in a specific location,the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 should know theidentification information of the user terminal 100. The neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 can obtain the identificationinformation of the user terminal 100 using the location information ofthe neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 themselves. Foran example, the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 maybe focused on the user terminal 100 and may obtain the locationinformation of the user terminal 100 using the location information ofthe neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150. The neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140 and 150 may obtain the identificationinformation of the user terminal 100 using the location information ofthe user terminal 100. The user terminal 100 receives messages fromneighboring devices that can perform short-distance wirelesscommunication with the user terminal 100, that is, the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150, the messages requesting theuser terminal 100 to transmit identification information on thecondition that the difference between the location information of theuser terminal 100 and the location information transmitted from theneighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150 is within apredetermined range, in operation 620. The short-distance wirelesscommunication can be performed using at least one of WLAN, Bluetooth,ZigBee, and WiBro technologies. The user terminal 100 compares thelocation information of the user terminal 100 with the locationinformation received from the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133,140, and 150 in operation 630. If the difference between the locationinformation of the user terminal 100 and the location informationreceived from the neighboring devices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150is within a predetermined range, the user terminal 100 transmits theidentification information of the user terminal 100 to the neighboringdevices 130, 131, 132, 133, 140, and 150.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention asdescribed above, a method and apparatus for identifying a neighboringdevice of a user terminal by using a viewfinder or LCD of the userterminal can be provided.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, amethod and apparatus for easily and simply identifying a neighboringdevice of a user terminal by which a device the user desires tocommunicate with can be selected while watching devices through a screenof the user terminal can also be provided.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, amethod and apparatus for identifying a neighboring device of a userterminal by which desired identification information of a neighboringdevice can be obtained by using location information of the userterminal and neighboring devices can also be provided.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, amethod and apparatus for identifying a neighboring device of a userterminal by which a media signal can be generated by the user terminaland at the same time the media signal can be transmitted to aneighboring device positioned on a screen of the user terminal can alsobe provided.

The present invention can also be embodied as computer readable codes ona computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recordingmedium is any data storage device that can store data which can bethereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readablerecording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory(RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storagedevices, and carrier waves (such as data transmission through theInternet). The computer readable recording medium can also bedistributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computerreadable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the following claims. Theexemplary embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only andnot for purposes of limitation. Therefore, the scope of the invention isdefined not by the detailed description of the invention but by theappended claims, and all differences within the scope will be construedas being included in the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of identifying a neighboring device,which is performed in a user terminal, the method comprising: obtainingan actual location range within a field of vision of the user terminal,wherein the field of vision of the user terminal is provided through oneof a viewfinder and a display of the user terminal; receivingidentification information and location information of a plurality ofneighboring devices within a predetermined range, directly from theplurality of neighboring devices; extracting the identificationinformation of at least one neighboring device among the plurality ofneighboring devices, based on the actual location range within the fieldof vision of the user terminal and the received location information andidentification information of the plurality of neighboring devices, theat least one neighboring device being in the actual location rangewithin the field of vision of the user terminal; and requesting, basedon the extracted identification information of the at least oneneighboring device, the at least one neighboring device to performwireless communication with the user terminal.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the obtaining of the actual location range within the field ofvision of the user terminal comprises: obtaining location information ofthe user terminal; obtaining the field of vision of the user terminal,provided through one of the viewfinder and the display of the userterminal; and obtaining the actual location range within the field ofvision of the user terminal, based on the location information and thefield of vision of the user terminal.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe obtaining of the location information of the user terminalcomprises: receiving a global positioning system (GPS) signal from asatellite or a wireless signal from a base station; and obtaining thelocation information of the user terminal based on the received GPSsignal or the received wireless signal.
 4. The method of claim 2,wherein the location information of the user terminal comprises at leastone of latitude, longitude, direction of the field of vision, andaltitude.
 5. The method of claim 2, further comprising: obtaining fromthe at least one neighboring device identification information of otherdevices belonging to a user of the at least one neighboring device whichis requested to perform wireless communication with the user terminal;and requesting, based on the obtained identification information of theother devices, the other devices to perform wireless communication withthe user terminal.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting ofthe identification information of the at least one neighboring devicewithin the field of vision of the user terminal comprises: selecting theat least one neighboring device, which is located in the actual locationrange within the field of vision of the user terminal, among theplurality of neighboring devices that can perform wireless communicationwith the user terminal; and extracting the identification information ofthe selected neighboring device.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: photographing neighboring devices within the field of visionof the user terminal and generating a media signal; and requesting theneighboring devices within the field of vision of the user terminal toperform wireless communication with the user terminal and transmittingthe media signal to the neighboring devices.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the location information of the at least one neighboring devicecomprises at least one of latitude, longitude, direction of the field ofvision, and altitude.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the requestingthe neighboring device located within the field of vision of the userterminal to perform wireless communication with the user terminalcomprises: displaying on the viewfinder of the user terminal the atleast one neighboring device located within the field of vision of theuser terminal, wherein the field of vision is provided through one ofthe viewfinder and the display of the user terminal; receiving aselection of a neighboring device, which is to be requested to performwireless communication with the user terminal, from among the displayedat least one neighboring device within the field of vision of the userterminal; and requesting the selected neighboring device to performwireless communication with the user terminal.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the displaying of the at least one neighboring devicecomprises: converting locations of the at least one neighboring deviceto locations on the viewfinder, based on the location information of theat least one neighboring device within the field of vision, locationinformation of the user terminal, a viewing angle of the user terminal,and a size of the viewfinder of the user terminal; and displaying the atleast one neighboring device on the converted locations on theviewfinder.
 11. A user terminal for identifying a neighboring device,the user terminal comprising: a location information processing unitconfigured to obtain an actual location range within a field of visionof the user terminal, wherein the field of vision is provided throughone of a viewfinder and a display of the user terminal; a wirelesscommunication unit configured to receive identification information andlocation information of a plurality of neighboring devices within apredetermined range, directly from the plurality of neighboring devices;and a media signal processing unit configured to photograph a viewwithin the field of vision of the user terminal and generate a mediasignal, wherein the location information processing unit extracts theidentification information of at least one neighboring device in theactual location range within the field of vision of the user terminalamong the plurality of neighboring devices, based on the receivedidentification information and location information of the plurality ofneighboring devices, and the wireless communication unit requests the atleast one neighboring device to perform wireless communication with theuser terminal, based on the extracted identification information of theat least one neighboring device.
 12. The user terminal of claim 11,wherein the location information of the at least one neighboring devicecomprises at least one of latitude, longitude, direction of the field ofvision, and altitude.
 13. The user terminal of claim 11, wherein thepredetermined range includes a short-distance wireless communicationarea using at least one of wireless local area network, Bluetooth,ZigBee, and WiBro technologies.
 14. The user terminal of claim 11,wherein the wireless communication unit obtains from the plurality ofneighboring devices identification information of other devicesbelonging to a user of the at least one neighboring device which isrequested to perform wireless communication with the user terminal, andrequests, based on the obtained identification information of the otherdevices, the other devices to perform wireless communication with theuser terminal.
 15. The user terminal of claim 11, wherein the locationinformation processing unit comprises: a global positioning system (GPS)signal reception unit which receives a GPS signal from a GPS satellite;a location calculation unit configured to obtain location information ofthe user terminal by using the received GPS signal, and obtain, based onthe location information of the user terminal, the actual location rangewithin the field of vision of the user terminal; and a neighboringdevice location processing unit configured to store the receivedidentification information and the location information of the pluralityof neighboring devices, and extract identification information of the atleast one neighboring device in the actual location range within thefield of vision of the user terminal.
 16. The user terminal of claim 15,wherein the location information of the user terminal comprises at leastone of latitude, longitude, direction of the field of vision, andaltitude.
 17. The user terminal of claim 11, further comprising: aninput and output unit configured to display the at least one neighboringdevice located within the field of vision of the user terminal on aviewfinder of the user terminal, and receive a selection of aneighboring device, which is to be requested to perform wirelesscommunication with the user terminal, from among the displayedneighboring devices; and a control unit configured to control the userterminal so that the identification information of the at least oneneighboring device located within the field of vision can be obtainedand the selected neighboring device can be requested to perform wirelesscommunication with the user terminal; and a memory unit configured tostore programs required for controlling the user terminal.
 18. The userterminal of claim 17, wherein the neighboring device location processingunit converts a location of the at least one neighboring device locatedwithin the field of vision of the user terminal into a location on theviewfinder of the user terminal, and the input and output unit displaysthe at least one neighboring device at the location on the viewfinder.19. The user terminal of claim 17, wherein the wireless communicationcomprises short-distance wireless communication using at least one ofwireless local area network, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and WiBro technologies.20. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having embodiedthereon a computer program for executing a method of identifying aneighboring device, the method comprising: obtaining an actual locationrange within a field of vision of a user terminal, wherein the field ofvision is provided through one of a viewfinder and a display of the userterminal; receiving identification information and location informationof a plurality of neighboring devices within a predetermined range,directly from the plurality of neighboring devices; extracting theidentification information of at least one neighboring device among theplurality of neighboring devices, based on the actual location rangewithin the field of vision of the user terminal and the receivedlocation information and identification information of the plurality ofneighboring devices, the at least one neighboring device being in theactual location range within the field of vision of the user terminal;and requesting, based on the extracted identification information of theat least one neighboring device, the at least one neighboring device toperform wireless communication with the user terminal.